The prospect of a false arrest is troubling to all of us.  It is particularly troubling to those in the general population who are not immersed in the nuances of probable cause and those unaffected by the pressure to keep the roads safe-two concepts that patrol officers deal with daily.  A recent series of investigative reports by WSMV4 television of Nashville highlighted this concern in the context of three Tennesseans who were recently arrested for DUI by the police departments of three different Middle Tennessee municipalities.  The charges against the three persons were dismissed after a blood test proved conclusively that each was sober when arrested.

The two men and one woman were driving when they were stopped by police.  The officers involved in each stop apparently concluded, based on claims about the smell of an intoxicant and/or standard field sobriety test results, that the drivers were probably impaired.

All three drivers insisted on their innocence and requested that they be given a breath test to evidence their sobriety.  No breath tests were given because the three police departments apparently did not use the devices as a matter of routine policy.  The rationale for abandoning breath testing, because of the relative inability to test for drug impairment by breath testing, is not yet fully apprehended by the public.  After all, it is those breath tests, upon which thousands of convictions for DUI were once obtained, which are now deemed untrustworthy by the police.  The logic is not easily grasped by the public at large.

It is not uncommon for blood testing to require six months to complete in Tennessee.  However, the new crime lab in Jackson seems to have eased the backlog.  Police and prosecutors generally believe that a blood test, which analyzes for the presence of drugs other than alcohol, is preferable to the breath testing tools which are available now.  Research into a breath test for marijuana use is continuing.

As to those field tests, one judge recently had the opportunity to take the standardized battery of field sobriety tests taught to police officers in Tennessee.   This occurred inside a temperature-controlled room, in the absence of flashing lights and anxiety and upon a level tiled floor.  While “sober as a judge”, he was unable to perform several of the tests satisfactorily.

Watch the stories at WSMV4 Investigates.